Irving, Texas. December 2, 2020 –
The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) announced today the release of a new research tool showing a comprehensive breakdown of all homeschool withdrawals from Texas public schools since 1997.
Between 1997-2019, withdrawals from public schools to homeschool in Texas increased 228{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} compared to a 41{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} increase in public school enrollment over the same period.
While homeschool withdrawals grew at an average annual rate of 6.5{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}, public school enrollment grew at an average rate of 1.6{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}. Before Covid-19, 22,000-25,000 students were already withdrawing from Texas public schools to homeschool each year. THSC’s new research tool, which is available for viewing online, provides previously unavailable geographic and grade level breakdowns of the students who withdraw from Texas public schools to begin homeschooling.
Homeschool withdrawal data was obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which reports on only those homeschool students who withdrew from the public school system to homeschool and only students in grades 7-12. For this reason, total homeschool growth in Texas is estimated to be significantly higher than the already impressive numbers reported by the TEA.
A recent survey from Gallup showed that the number of homeschool families in the United States doubled from 5{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} in 2019 to 10{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} in 2020. This could mean more than 670,000 homeschool students in Texas, which would translate into more than $7 billion in savings to the state per year.
While homeschool withdrawal information for 2020 is not yet available from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), all available indicators point towards record shattering growth.
Tim Lambert, President of THSC, commented on the enormous upward trend in homeschooling. “Data from the TEA indicates that homeschooling in Texas has been growing at an incredibly fast pace over the last 20 years, and that was true before Covid-19. By all appearances, homeschool growth is outpacing all other forms of education by incredible margins and has just become a mainstream educational option.”
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